Aleppo has been scarred beyond recognition: Weeks after fighting stopped, a pall of dust covers its eastern districts, where streets are lined for blocks with buildings smashed to metal and brick rubble in scenes reminiscent of cities devastated in World War II.

The destruction is the worst wreaked on any city in Syria's six-year war. No one has any quick answers on how to rebuild Aleppo, Syria's largest city, much less the rest of a country that has seen appalling desolation.

The Quebec City mosque shooting was a brutal blow to Canada's multicultural, open and tolerant society, revealing cracks in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says is the nation's biggest strength.

The Vatican on Wednesday voiced "concern" over President Donald Trump's executive orders to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and impose a travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

After a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque, the Canadian province's popular conservative talk radio hosts have come under fire for allegedly spreading intolerance and hate.

Bangladesh's largest book fair began in Dhaka on Wednesday, with police warning organizers against selling books that hurt "religious sentiment" in the Muslim-majority country.

Irish writer Sebastian Barry on Tuesday became the first novelist to scoop the Costa Book of the Year award twice, with his portrayal of an 1850s gay relationship between US soldiers.

Harvard Medical School professor Thomas Michel was so excited about recruiting Iranian researcher Soheil Saravi, he put Saravi's name on the door of his Boston lab when his new hire got his visa.

Then President Donald Trump's travel ban took effect, blocking Saravi from entering the U.S.

President Donald Trump will continue to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the workplace, the White House said Tuesday.

An executive order signed by then President Barack Obama in 2014, which protects employees "from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump."

South Korea's government on Tuesday unveiled the final version of state-issued school history textbooks despite criticism that they are a throwback to the country's authoritarian past.

The education ministry published middle and high school history textbooks even as parliament is moving to ban their use. Legislators say they glorify the dictatorship of Park Chung-Hee, late father of impeached President Park Geun-Hye.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation warned on Monday that the travel ban imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump would strengthen the position of extremists worldwide.